Jay-Z

Kanye West has been compared to Pink Floyd, Steve Jobs, and even Mozart. (That last article drew a lot of fire in its comments section, of course…as well as a few lucid arguments from music majors who backed their opinions up with historical facts and classical theory.)

Whatever you think about the man and his music, you have to admit that he’s been influential—in pop culture at large, as well as in the realm of menswear. GQ ran a retrospective on West’s style today, which points pretty clearly to the fact that (ethical qualms with floor-length fur aside) the rapper/producer’s present-day wardrobe choices are his wisest, and most relevant to the rest of us, to date.

See above. West’s tough, monochromatic minimalism seems right in step with the bluntly reduced electro thump of his new album, Yeezus, out today. In his recent NY Timesinterview, West says a lamp by minimalist architect/designer Le Corbusier changed his entire point of view. He also says it takes him a fraction of the time to get dressed these days—proving what we’ve known for a while now: Throw on a leather jacket with anything, from a T-shirt to a tie, and you’re good to go.

The image up top is from West’s performance on Saturday Night Live last month—one of the darkest, most jarring, and most fascinating things that’s happened on that show maybe ever. (Well, there was this.) We can’t exactly show the video here, but if you can handle some controversial political topics, click here.

Here’s a few more live music performances, some from Kanye, some from SNL, and some from 20+ years ago, whose style tips you can take to heart today:

Kanye West famously wore a women’s blouse by Céline at Coachella a couple years ago. Bold move—and we won’t fault him for it. For the rest of us though, vintage grunge heroes like Pearl Jam, promo’ing and dress-rehearsing for SNL in 1992, are probably better role models for summer FESTIVAL STYLE.

Do your best to ignore the souped-up Rolls Royces, the gyrating flappers, the sinister-sounding Kanye West / Jay-Z / Frank Ocean beat (which would have been infinitely cooler here if a handful of mediocre action flicks didn’t already use it), the hypnotic visual overload director Baz Luhrmann made famous in 1996’s amped-up Romeo & Juliet remix—and even try to look past Carey Mulligan’s beauty mark, if at all humanly possible.

[Trailer courtesy of Warner Bros and Village Roadshow Pictures. Still images are captures from the Brooks Brothers video about the film’s costume design. Individuals pictured do not endorse Nordstrom.]

Jay-Z has won 14 Grammy Awards, written a book, put a ring on Beyoncé, and has now successfully relocated the Nets (the NBA team he owns a partial stake in) from New Jersey to his hometown of Brooklyn.

If you can accomplish any of the above, or a reasonable equivalent, we’ll be the first to buy you a drink. But one way you can be like Jay right here and now is to rock the same Baldwin camo trousers he’s been spotted wearing all over the world (as reported by GQ.com).

Watch the Nets defend their new home turf against the Boston Celtics tonight at 8pm EST on TNT.

But first, on a related note, here’s another camouflage collage from our research file. (See the previous one here.)

Photos, clockwise from top: By Tommy Ton, courtesy of GQ.com |
A highly collectible (as in, 200 bucks on eBay) camo figurine based on the work of street artist Futura for British musical outfit Unkle, via | Brixton Ball Cap |
Gwen Stefani of No Doubt, who’s been a rock star for 20 years and counting
(photo by T Maidana/Fame Pictures, via Us Weekly)

[Jay-Z pictures, from top, courtesy of Jay-Z’s Life + Times and GQ.com. Individuals pictured do not endorse Nordstrom or products shown. If your work appears here and you would like it credited differently or removed, please contact us using the ‘Email the Editor’ link at right.]